Congregate vs Nucleus
Congregate
congregateonline.com
Nucleus
nucleus.churchSide by side
| Figure | Congregate | Nucleus |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10/mo | $65/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 10 | 3 |
| Spec score · Church Website Builders | 9.1 (#1) | 7.7 (#17) |
| Communications | The platform supports email messaging, premium SMS messaging, and premium text-to-speech voice messages. | Standard and Complete include Posts, Messages, and Mission Control for ministry updates, email campaigns, automated follow-up, and internal communication guidance. |
| Founded | The Congregate service was launched in 2009. | 2017 |
| Integrations | Congregate supports embedded or linked live-stream and online-giving providers and offers Google Analytics and Google Maps API settings. | Flows and Posts support native Planning Center integrations, and Posts can connect to other ChMS or mailing systems through Zapier. |
| Security and privacy | The privacy policy says sensitive information is encrypted in transit and stored on secured servers with limited employee access. | Nucleus says customer churches retain rights to stored data, which it processes as a service provider or subprocessor, and says it does not sell customer data. |
| Support | Free technical support is included in every service plan, and the company says it responds to support tickets within 24 hours or less. | Support includes step-by-step help documentation, live classes, and access to a real person; the homepage reports a 2-hour 3-minute average support response. |
Plans
Congregate
- Virtual Library$10 a month
- Sermon Transcriptions$15 a month
- Economy$20 a month
- Members Only$20 a month
- Text Messaging$25 a month
- Voice Messaging$25 a month
- Classic$45 a month
- Self-Hosted WordPress$55 a month
- Unlimited$55 a month
- Congregate-Hosted WordPress$70 a month
In their own words
Congregate
Congregate is a church management platform that combines a church website, member management, and leadership tools. Member features include a directory, attendance tracking, visitor registration and follow-up, and a leadership CRM. Communications include email, premium SMS, and premium text-to-speech voice messages. Its worship scheduler assigns positions and volunteer tasks, with support for blockout dates, replacements, confirmations, and reminders.
Churches can upload sermon media in formats such as MP3, PowerPoint, PDF, or YouTube links; the platform can create podcast feeds and support social sharing. The native members app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android, and includes member modules, a directory, Bible, and sermon audio. Congregate says more than 30 modules are included in each service plan. Plans include a public website and mobile app at $20/mo for Economy, while Members Only is also $20/mo and omits the public website and email accounts. Standard plans carry a one-time $499 setup fee, discounted by $50 for churches with fewer than 50 members. Free technical support is included, with ticket responses stated as within 24 hours or less. The site offers a free test drive but gives no duration. The service runs on web, Android, and iOS.